Are Your Instagram Photos Being Sold by Someone Else

May 2015

Are your Instagram photos being sold by someone else?

Earlier today, I tweeted a link to an article that prompted me to ask this question. You better already know that “private” or not, you should not post anything on your social media accounts that you would not want your current or potential employer to see.

Must you now worry about only posting something you would not mind displayed in a public space?

Well, an American painter slash photographer who according to his short bio on Wikipedia “began copying other photographer’s work in 1975,” has appropriated the Instagram posts of others. And displayed them in large sizes at a gallery.

It is difficult for me to pinpoint whether this artist, Richard Prince, is one of the least or most clever artists around.

Since last year, Prince has used photos from his follow feed for his own works. These works are simply large prints of his Instagram screenshots. With redacted phone timestamp and battery percentage, of course.

Prince’s derivative works are “changed” by him by the addition of a comment. No, not a comment on society. A comment written by his Instagram account, in the comment section of the original post’s comments. Prince is the last comment before taking his screenshot.

However, Prince has been making tons of money retaking pictures of popular photos for a few decades already. And yes, some people have taken him on legally. But no, those people did not succeed. Apparently his art has been deemed transformative enough.

P.S.
Artsy.net, a website with a mission to make art accessible to anyone with an internet connection, has a page about Richard Prince and his works.